Which Linux?

From: J.O. Aho on 2 Jul 2010 13:14
JBJ (4920) wrote:> "ray" <ray(a)zianet.com> skrev i meddelelsen
> news:896h80F5mfU1(a)mid.individual.net...
>> On Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:54:59 +0200, JBJ \(4920\) wrote:
>>
>>> Hello, I know that this might enrage allot of linux fans, but have to
>>> ask anyway:) Which Linux version looks and feels most like windows so
>>> that the user wont really feel that much different using linux?
>>>
>>> I hope getting allot of response and some links and screenshoots:)
>>>
>>> Thanx in advance:)
>>
>> Enrage? No. But it's really a rather silly question. Several years ago I
>> installed Linux on the public access internet computers at the local
>> library. We started with Mandriva and KDE - later switched to Ubuntu and
>> KDE. All along, the patrons have had absolutely no problems adapting. A
>> customer satisfaction survey a while back indicated there were several
>> who were not even aware they were not using MS.
>>
>> IMHO, you greatly underestimate your potential users. They should have no
>> difficulty at all with any modern Linux distribution.
>>
>
>
> Hi Ray, I don't underestimate anyone, its simply put for a pc that will
> be used by people who never seen linux before. I myself, have tried
> Ubuntu, and others build on it + Red hat, mandriva and allot of others
> trying to get them to work on a Thinkpad I have. The only one that(of
> the ones I have tried) I feel is true userfriendly is Puppy linux Retro,
> but that is too complicated for those users and they like something that
> look, feels and act like Windows.
>

Take a look at this and you see how silly it's to try to make it look and feel
like ms-windows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIgEFIv5MI

--

//Aho

From: philo on 2 Jul 2010 14:39
On 07/02/2010 10:54 AM, JBJ (4920) wrote:> Hello, I know that this might enrage allot of linux fans, but have to ask
> anyway:) Which Linux version looks and feels most like windows so that the
> user wont really feel that much different using linux?
>
> I hope getting allot of response and some links and screenshoots:)
>
> Thanx in advance:)

There is no version of Linux that has any similarity to Microsoft Windows

however there are numerous windows managers that anyone who can use Windows
should have no trouble adapting to.

Just for example, I use Gnome

and when guests to my house need computer access and I let them use my
machine

not once has anyone ever said:

"Hey, this is different, how do I use it?"

From: Zoolook on 2 Jul 2010 23:47
On 02/07/2010 17:48, ray wrote:> I understand your point, but I still think you're overestimating the
> difficulty. My sister, who uses a computer as a TOOL (she always has IT
> folk where she works do everything for her) sat down with my Ubuntu
> laptop a couple of years ago and was able to do everything she needed
> without any coaching. She's an intelligent person, but not very creative
> - if she could cope, most anyone should be able to. It's not a huge
> transition - a browser is still a browser and an application menu is
> still an application menu - whether it says "start" or "applications".

And a system-tray, presumably, is a system-tray!

--
Sixty zippers were quickly picked from the woven jute bag.

From: JBJ (4920) on 3 Jul 2010 05:15
"JBJ (4920)" <thunder(a)spoergmig.invalid> skrev i meddelelsen
news:4c2e0b26$0$273$14726298(a)news.sunsite.dk...> Hello, I know that this might enrage allot of linux fans, but have to ask
> anyway:) Which Linux version looks and feels most like windows so that
> the
> user wont really feel that much different using linux?
>
> I hope getting allot of response and some links and screenshoots:)
>
> Thanx in advance:)
> --
>
> Mvh / with kind regards
>
> JBJ (4920)
> my own preference is Puppy retro
>
>
>

To all of you who presume that these people just can addapt, you can
because you have experience with computers and used either windows or Mac
before, but these live in the Philippines on an island and most of them
don't have a pc - I mean to change that - A friend of mine is running a
wellfare organisation that brings pc's to the schools there and I repair
and set up the HW.

Most of the available pc's, around in internet caf�s, are with windows, and
its only within the last 4 years the children have had a chance to learn IT
in school, because its just been made available. For them its not just to
jump from Windows to Linux. But in the big cities the universities is
starting to teach Linux, therefore my idea was to ease them into it - so
they would have an advantage in the future - with a linux version that was
so similair to windows as it could get. Then they can start to experiment
after they have learned the basic's.

But its not only for the children, but also for the parents who never used
a pc before and didn't grew up with it. All resum�s and applications these
days, has to be written on either typewriter or pc and printed out - that
is if you want the job. These people earn about 7$ a day, you think they
can afford a pc with a legal windows license - no and therefore there is
allot of virus floating around. But Linux is free and not easy to get virus
on.

I can scrape together really cheap pc's by using surplus components, and
they will work and the idea is then to put linux on these. But as I have
stated it has to be so similair to windows as possible, because the
children are learning windows in school.

--

Mvh / with kind regards

JBJ (4920)

From: JBJ (4920) on 3 Jul 2010 05:34
"JBJ (4920)" <thunder(a)spoergmig.invalid> skrev i meddelelsen
news:4c2e15e9$0$279$14726298(a)news.sunsite.dk...> "atec7 7" <""atec77\"@ hotmail.com"> skrev i meddelelsen
> news:i0l42c$kjj$3(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>> JBJ (4920) wrote:
>>> Hello, I know that this might enrage allot of linux fans, but have to
>>> ask
>>> anyway:) Which Linux version looks and feels most like windows so that
>>> the
>>> user wont really feel that much different using linux?
>>>
>>> I hope getting allot of response and some links and screenshoots:)
>>>
>>> Thanx in advance:)
>> The point is to find something intuitive without being winblows
>> I prefer mephis for the normal daily machine with some virtuals
>> installed
>>
>
>
> Do you have a link?
>
>
> --
>
> Mvh / with kind regards
>
> JBJ (4920)
>

I have now tried Mepis 8.5, and its slow to install but after that it works
fast and looked like the one I was looking for, but I ran into some
problems:

I installed GRUB to root and thought that was like installing puppy to
root, but no, it wouldn't boot. So I booted up on the LiveCD and
reinstalled GRUB to MBR - now it booted. And I had no trouble loggin in
with the username ad password I had set for the user.

But root's password doesn't work. When I was asked to set a password for
the user I was also asked to set a password for root and I did - I set it
to root1. Thats the one that is not working now, neither do default
password: root. Meaning I can't change any settings.

The resolution is only 800x600 and I can't change it to higher, This is
happening on nVidia Vanta 16Mb AGP graphiccard and IBM P72 17" monitor.
Before I have tried Ubuntu and had similair probleme on an old IBM
thinkpad, so I thought I would change the settings just like I did on that
one, but as I said, I can't since I cannot use the root account.

So I installed Linux Mint instead.

But I might give Mepis another go, so is there a way to reset the root
password in case this should happen again?

Linux Mint worked out-of-the-box, easy and nice setup(ok on my old pc it
took a while to install). I have to play aruond with LM today, but for what
I saw Mepis has more the look I'm looking for, so unless I can change the
look and feel of LM I will try Mepis again.
--